Grinding and polishing mechanism



GRINDING AND POLISHING MECHANISM I Filed Oct. 7,1968 ZSheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR ALLEN KFOSTER M 4 41], 1 6 v Q ATTORNEY Nov. 3, 1970 A.KQFOSTER I 7 3,537,331

GRINDING AND POLISHING MECHANISM- Filed 001;. '2, I968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2as 3'! s3 W /K\((\/Q? A .s dv 39 34 3 I .7 INVENTOR v ALLEN K. FOSTER BY0M MM ATTORNEY US. Cl. 51--145 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Amechanism for grinding and polishing the cylindrical surfaces ofrotating cylindrical members by means of a rotating endless belt whichis adapted to be moved into contact with and traverse the full width ofsaid cylindrical members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a mechanism forgrinding and polishing the circumferential surface of cylindricalmembers, such as cylinders, drum rollers or the like, and moreespecially it pertains to a means for truing to uniform height andrefinishing card clothing that has been fixedly assembled about theperipheral surface of such members.

The known forms of grinding mechanisms for truing and refinishing theso-called wire teeth of card clothing are of the traverse type. Althoughthese grinders perform their function with some degree of satisfaction,they leave a great deal to be desired with regards to maintaininguniformity in the height of the teeth across the full span of thecylinders which the grinder must travel.

Additionally with this type of grinder, the amount of time required tosatisfactorily true or refinish the wire teeth of carding rolls orcylinders is considered excessive. With the grinding element traversingthe width of a rotating cylinder, the path of the grind is in the formof a helix and requires a great number of passes by said grindingelement and rotations of said cylinder to remove the traces of the grindand to provide uniformity in tooth height.

Traverse grinding is considered a more costly operation than iseconomically desirable for due to the complexity of design of thesemechanisms, they require the talents of a craftsman Well skilled in theart for proper and accurate set-up thereof.

The grinding and polishing mechanism according to the instant inventionprovides a relatively inexpensive apparatus that is compact, portable,requires a minimum of maintenance, simplified set-up procedure forprecision grinding and which is capable of accomplishing its intendedfunction in substantially less time than the known grinding andpolishing mechanisms of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The grinding and polishing mechanism of thepresent invention utilizes a horizontally disposed endless belt thatserves as a carrier for the grinding or polishing elements adapted toact upon the peripheral surface of carding rolls or cylinders. This beltis supported for rotation by a plurality of rotatable pulley membersmounted in spaced relation on a supporting frame that is adjustablyslidable toward and away from the outer surface of the cylinders. One ofthe pulley members serves as a driver and two serve as guide pulleyshaving a belt guide platen extending therebetween. The length of theguide platen is greater than the length of a cylinder and is disposed sothe ends thereof are tangent with the outer peripheral surfaces of thepulley members between which it is mounted. The belt member is caused tomove about the pulley members and United St Pawn o along thelongitudinal extent of the outer surface of the belt guide platen. Thecomplete assembly is carried by the supporting frame and the latterbeing movable in a horizontal plane, permits that portion of the beltwhich travels along the length of the platen to be moved into contactwith the outer surface of the carding rolls or cylinders as they arecaused to rotate.

With the rotating belt contacting the full width of the rotatingcylinders, the uniformity of grind upon the socalled carding teeth iseasily controlled and the period of time required to complete a cylinderis substantially decreased relative to the known methods of traversegrindmg.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thegrinding and polishing mechanism according to the invention showing theposition of cylinder effected by said mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a section taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is asection taken along line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view in exploded form showing the means forsupporting and adjusting the drive pulley for causing the endless beltto track in desired locations on the periphery of the pulley members.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment shown in FIG.1 only those components of the grinding and polishing mechanism havebeen shown which are required for a description of the inventionincluding a supporting frame having a configuration substantiallytriangular and which is depicted generally by numeral 10. Rotatablepulley members 11, 12 and 13 are carried on the upper surface of thesupporting frame 10 by means of vertically disposed shafts 14, 15 and 16respectively. These shafts are journaled in bearing members such as thesingle pillow block 17 shown in FIG. 1.

The pulley members are rotatably carried by their respective shafts withone being supported in each corner of the triangular configuration ofthe supporting frame 10'.

An endless belt 18 serves as a carrier for the grinding or polishingelements adapted to engage the outer surface of carding rolls orcylinders, one of which is shown in FIG. 1 at 19. Although not shown ameans is provided for supporting cylinder 19 for rotation in theposition illustrated and said supporting and rotating means is carriedby a stand structure partially shown and identified in FIG. 1 by numeral20.

Pulleys 11 and 12 are freely rotatable and pulley 13 is driven by meansof a motor 21 which is connected to said pulley 13 by means of auniversal type connection 22 and a telescopic type of drive shown inFIG. 1 by cooperating members 23 and 24.

As shown in FIG. 1 the endless belt 18 passes about and engages each ofthe pulley members 11, 12 and 13 and said pulley member 13 is adjustablein a horizontal plane toward and away from the other of said pulleys tofacilitate removal, assembly and adjustment of the belt.

The supporting frame 10 includes a pair of centrally located channelmembers 25 and 26 that are disposed in spaced and opposed relation andform guide tracks 27 and 28 in which a pulley support member 29 isadjustably slidable. This pulley support member is of rectangularconfiguration having spaced side runners 30 and 31 (FIGS. 1 and 3) whichare receivable into and movable within channel members 25 and 26,respectively. A plate element 32 forms one end of the pulley supportmember 29 and provides a vertical surface to which the pillow blocks 17for supporting pulley 13 are fixedly assembled (FIGS. 1 and 4).

The opposite end of the pulley support member 29 is interconnected by atie bar 33 having a cross sectional configuration that is generally Lshaped. This tie bar 33 is provided with a centrally disposed andhorizontally extending threaded hole 34 (FIG. 3) which is in axialalignment with an aperture not shown in a cross bar 35 that extendsparallel with and in spaced relation to said tie bar 33. The ends of thecross bar 35 are fixed by any suitable means, such as by welding tochannel members 25 and 26.

A threaded rod 36 is adapted to assemble in the threaded hole 34provided in the tie bar 33 and extending in a horizontal plane it passesthrough and beyond the aperture in the cross bar 35. The aperture in thecross bar 35 is larger than the diameter of the threaded rod 36 andpermits the latter to be turned freely therein by means of a wheel typecrank 37 which is fixed to that end of said threaded rod which extendsbeyond said aperture. To prevent longitudinal movement of the threadedrod 36 in this aperture said rod is provided with check nuts 38 (oneonly shown in FIG. 1) on each side of the cross bar 35.

By rotating the threaded rod 36 in one direction of the other, the tiebar 33 is moved longitudinally and the latter forming a part of thepulley support member 29 moves said member a sufiicient distance toeither assemble, remove or adjust the belt 18 on the pulley members.

A belt guide platen 39 traverses the distance between pulley members 11and 12 in a plane tangent to the outer peripheral surfaces of saidpulley members. This platen 39 is supported above the supporting frameby means of a pair of spaced arm members 40 and 41 which extend fromsaid platen in a plane normal to the longitudinal extent thereof. Thesearm members 40 and 41 extend in the direction of the pulley member 13and being disposed above the supporting frame 10 are in verticalalignment with channel members and 26 respectively. The arm members arefixedly positioned above the channel members by means of spacers 42 andbolts 43 the latter of which extend through said spacers and alignedholes (not shown) in said arms and channel members.

That portion of frame 10 which carries pulley members 11 and 12 isadjustably attached to the stand structure 20 in such a manner so as toplace the belt guide platen 39 in close proximity With the outerperipheral surface of the cylinder 19. The outer end of the supportingframe 10 is carried by any suitable means (not shown) such as a standarranged to permit horizontal movement of said supporting frame.

The means for adjustably attaching the supporting frame 10 to the standstructure 20 includes a pair of spaced viselike adjustment devicesgenerally indicated in FIG. 1 by numerals 44 and 45. Both of thesedevices are of like construction and perform the same function and forpurpose of brevity only device 45 will be described which illustrates inFIG. 1 all of the components which it includes. This adjustment deviceincludes a generally rectangular block 46 which is fixedly attached tothe underside of the supporting frame 10 by any suitable means such asby welding. Block 46 is provided with a centrally disposed andlongitudinal extending threaded hole (not shown) having assembledtherein a threaded rod 47. A block guide of L shape configuration andidentified generally by numeral 48 is fixedly attached to the standstructure 20 and serves to support the block 46 for horizontal movementon a guiding track 49 that forms an integral part of its horizontallyextending leg 50. The vertical extending leg of the block guide 48 isdepicted by numeral 51 and includes an aperture (not shown) throughwhich the threaded rod is adapted to extend. The aperture in leg 51 isof larger diameter than the threaded rod 47 and permits the latter to beturned freely therein. To prevent longitudinal movement of the threadedrod 47 in this aperture, collar members 52 (one only shown in FIG. 1)are fixed on said rod and in contiguous relation with the sides ofvertical extending leg 51. The outer end of the threaded rod 47 has aknob 53 assembled thereon for selectively turning said rod in a desireddirection to effect movement of block 46 in a horizontal plane.

Pulley 13 which provides the rotary motion for causing the endless belt18 to travel in the manner described above, also includes a means forangular adjustment thereof, thereby providing a means for permittingsaid belt to track at predetermined positions on the peripheral surfaceof the pulley. This means allows nearly the entire surface of the beltto be utilized and FIG. 4 illustrates in exploded form the variouscomponents of one form of device that may be employed. The pillow blocks17 are fixedly attached to a face plate 54 by means of cap screws 55that are adapted to be received by threaded holes 56 in said face plate(FIG. 4). The face plate 54 also includes a pair of tapped holes 57which are in horizontal alignment and disposed adjacent the upper endthereof. The plate element 32 is provided with a pair of apertures 58that are in alignment with the tapped holes 57 in the face plate and bymeans of screws 59 passing through said apertures and into said tappedholes, said face plate is securely attached to said plate element.

A tapped hole 60 is provided in the lower central portion of the plateelement 32 and is adapted to receive an adjusting screw 61 therein onwhich a lock nut 62 assembles.

A pair of shim members 63 and 64 are positioned intermediate the plateelement 32 and the face plate 54 and are disposed so as to permit thescrews 59 to pass therethrough. The end of the adjusting screw 61 iscaused to bear against the lower end of the face plate 54 and by simplyturning screws 59 in one direction or the other and then tightening theadjusting screw 61, the face plate can be fixedly positioned in a numberof angular positions. A very slight angular adjustment of the face plate54 in one direction or the other away from its vertical position causesthe endless belt 18 to track partially off center of the pulley membersthereby permitting greater utilization of said belts abrasive surface.

In operation, pulley 13 serves as a driver causing the endless belt 18to travel about the pulley members and across the outer surface of thebelt guide platen 39. By simply turning the knobs of the adjustmentdevices 44 and 45 the belt guide platen can be moved into or out ofengagement with the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder 19.Cylinder 19 is rotating at a lesser speed than the speed at which theendless belt is caused to travel. With this arrangement the entire widthof the cylinders outer surface which makes contact with the belt isacted upon and provides a greatly improved means of grinding the wireteeth of card clothing to an accurate and uniform height. Additionallythe grinding and polishing mechanism ac cording to the inventionrequires a substantially less number of revolutions of the cylinder inorder to obtain the desired finished result.

I claim:

1. A mechanism for grinding and polishing the cylindrical surfaces of arotatable cylindrical member having its axis mounted in a horizontalplane which comprises (a) a supporting frame,

(b) an endless belt mounted in a generally horizontal plane in saidframe and extending in part along the full length of said cylindricalmember,

(c) a belt guide platen mounted adjacent said part and on the side ofsaid belt opposite the cylindrical member, and

(d) means for rotating said endless belt.

2. The grinding and polishing mechanism according to claim 1 whereinsaid supporting frame includes adjustment devices for movement thereoftoward and away from said cylindrical member.

3. The grinding and polishing mechanism according to claim 2 whereinadjustment devices comprise block members fixed to said supporting frameand movable in a horizontal plane by threaded rods assembled therein.

4. The grinding and polishing mechanism according to claim 1 whereinsaid supporting frame includes a plurality of pulley members rotatablymounted in spaced relation thereon for supporting said endless belt.

5. The grinding and polishing mechanism according to claim 4 whereinsaid means for rotating said endless belt includes a motor member withtelescopic drive members universally connected to and in drivingrelation with one of said pulley members.

6. The grinding and polishing mechanism according to claim 5 wherein thepulley member in driving relation with said motor includes an adjustmentmeans for causing said endless belt to track about predeterminedlocations on the outer periphery of said pulley members.

7. The grinding and polishing mechanism according to claim 6 whereinsaid telescopic drive members include References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,431,795 12/ 1947 Elmes 51141 2,469,735 5/1949 Lindsay et al51-141 3,145,509 8/1964 Heesemann 51141 WILLIAM R. ARMSTRONG, PrimaryExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 5 1242

